The San Diego Chargers and free-agent wide receiver Jacoby Jones have agreed to a two-year deal, a source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. The Ravens cut Jones in February following a difficult season for the former Super Bowl hero. A year earlier, he had re-signed with the team on a four-year, $12 million deal.
Jones, 30, dropped five passes as a receiver and muffed two punts in 2014, and the Ravens decided to avoid paying his $2.5 million salary for the 2015 season by cutting him.
Despite his struggles, Jones was one of two players to rank in the top 10 last season in both kickoff and punt returns. (Cincinnati's
Adam Jones was the other.) Jones finished second in the NFL in kickoff returns (30.6-yard average) and returned a kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown at Pittsburgh.
Jones made little impact as a receiver last season, catching his fewest passes (nine) since 2008. He dropped too many passes and quickly lost his job as the No. 3 receiver.
It was only two years ago when Jones helped the Ravens to a Super Bowl title. He caught a 56-yard touchdown pass and scored on an 108-yard kickoff return in the Ravens' 34-31 victory over the
San Francisco 49ers. Earlier in that title run, he caught a 70-yard touchdown pass with 44 seconds left against the
Denver Broncos that helped force overtime in a 38-35 divisional-round victory that sent the Ravens to the AFC Championship Game.
Nice signing
I thought some more about this, and I don't like this signing.
It seems likely that Jones will handle all punt and kickoff returns, and that will likely improve that area for the Chargers. But exactly how big of an area of need was this for the team?
The Chargers averaged 8.8 yards per punt return last season, which was #16 in the league; they also had 18 fair catches, which was tied for #19 (19th most) in the league, so it wasn't that they were foregoing an inordinate amount of opportunities. Jones averaged 9.2 yards per punt return last season.
The Chargers averaged 22.2 yards per kickoff return last season, which was #22 in the league. But to give a bit of perspective, the #1 team was Baltimore, with Jones, which averaged 28.3 yards per kickoff return. It's just not a significant difference. Jones averaged 30.6 yards per kickoff return last season, which is a bigger gap. But the Chargers have Chris Davis, who averaged 25.1 yards per kickoff return on 19 returns last season.
Meanwhile, in 2013, the Chargers averages were worse in both areas (7.5 yards per punt return, 22.1 yards per kickoff return), but they were #5 in yards. So getting fewer return yards really didn't have much of an effect on their overall success.
Jones does add big play ability, with 9 combined punt and kickoff TD returns in his career.
But is all of that worth $5.5M over 2 years? That seems like a lot of money to dedicate to a special teams player, especially a 31 year old. And winning the "hidden yardage" game, as Telesco likes to call it, can't be done by one player -- will the Chargers be able to block for Jones on returns like the Ravens did?
Meanwhile, Jones has never been a particularly good WR, and was just 9th in targets on the Ravens last season, despite playing all 16 games. He had just 9 receptions. Last season was easily the low point of his career as a WR.
The Ravens signed Jones to a 4 year contract just last offseason and decided to let him go just one year in, probably for the same reasons I am questioning this move.
This probably means not resigning Ajirotutu, as it is hard to see the Chargers keeping two WRs active primarily for special teams. Last year, Ajirotutu made $635K, so this bumps up their investment at this WR slot by about $2M. I would rather have seen that money spent differently.
This means the Chargers currently have Allen, Floyd, Jones, and Inman at WR for next season. Jones shouldn't really get on the field much as a WR, and Inman has limited experience, with just 12 career receptions. As of now, Allen and Floyd would continue to start, with Inman as the #3. They still need a better starter opposite Allen, and it should be someone not limited to a possession WR (e.g., Hartline). That would push Floyd to 3/4, which would also be a good thing.
That said, Floyd's cap hit is pretty high for a 3/4 ($4.7M). Floyd turns 34 in September, so I suppose it is possible they would consider cutting him, which would save about $3.5M on the 2015 cap. But then they would need another WR. Floyd is a well respected veteran, so I assume they will stick with him. I suppose they could extend him for one year at a lower number to lower his 2015 cap number.
